E3在后COVID世界中占有一席之地吗？

E3 has historically been one of the gaming industry’s most important events. At the same, the industry’s relationship with the event has become increasingly fractured in recent years. Many have argued — long before COVID-19 — that the expo has become redundant. The emergence of COVID-19 certainly seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for the event. But that may not necessarily be the case.

E 3历来是游戏行业最重要的事件之一。 同时，近年来行业与事件的关系越来越破裂。 许多人争辩-在COVID-19召开之前很久-世博会变得多余了。 当然，COVID-19的出现似乎是棺材最终的钉子。 但这不一定是事实。

In the last few years, E3 has admittedly lost quite a bit of its shine as more and more hardware and software developers have turned away from the event. Nintendo opted not to host a live press conference during the expo, opting instead to air a pre-recorded video presentation. EA moved away from the L.A. Convention Center (where the event is held), instead moving to a nearby location to hose their EA Play show. The icing on the cake came last year when, for the first time, Sony decided not to hold a keynote presentation — leaving Microsoft as the only one out of the “big three” (Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo) to do a traditional live show.

在过去的几年中，随着越来越多的硬件和软件开发人员放弃参加该盛会，E3无疑失去了很多光芒。 任天堂选择在博览会期间不举行现场新闻发布会，而是选择播放预先录制的视频演示文稿。 EA离开了洛杉矶会议中心(举行活动的地点)，而是搬到附近的地方进行EA Play表演。 锦上添花的是去年，当索尼首次决定不举行主题演讲时，使微软成为“三巨头”(索尼/微软/任天堂)中唯一一家进行传统现场表演的人。

James Burns. James Burns拍摄 。

To say that Sony’s announcement came as a shock to the industry wouldn’t be an exaggeration — as a result, though, the entire show felt underwhelming. It was painfully obvious that as we approached the end of the eighth console generation, we’d need to consider the end of live gaming presentations. Other options had emerged and proven successful, and everyone had begun to move in the digital direction.

可以说索尼的宣布震惊了整个行业，但这并不夸张-结果，整个节目都让人感到不知所措。 很痛苦的是，随着我们接近第八代游戏机的终结，我们需要考虑现场游戏演示的终结。 其他选择已经出现并证明是成功的，每个人都已开始朝数字化方向发展。

Nintendo has pioneered the digital presentation — keeping fans up to date with its Nintendo Direct presentations. These pre-recorded videos are formatted to suit their context (e.g. a third-party specific Direct, or perhaps a Pokémon Direct for Pokémon games). These presentations have become wildly popular, with fans routinely speculating on when the next Direct will drop. Sony decided to follow Nintendo’s lead in 2019 with the debut of their first State of Play presentation. These videos have given Sony an opportunity to update fans on titles like Final Fantasy VII Remake and The Last of Us Part II.

Nintendo率先推出了数字演示文稿-通过其Nintendo Direct演示文稿使粉丝保持最新状态。 这些预先录制的视频经过格式化以适合其上下文(例如，第三方特定的Direct或用于Pokémon游戏的PokémonDirect)。 这些演示已变得非常流行，粉丝们定期猜测下一个Direct的发布时间。 索尼决定在2019年以任天堂的首个状态演示首次亮相来追随任天堂的领导。 这些视频为Sony提供了一个更新粉丝的机会，例如“ 最终幻想VII重制版”和“最后的我们第二部分” 。

The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 changed the world as we knew it. Major in-person events like E3 have been cancelled. Even though companies like Sony had flagged early on that they wouldn’t be participating in this year’s show, the organisers (Entertainment Software Association — or ESA) held out until March before announcing the 2020 show’s closure. And yet, the ESA apparently remain confident that E3 will return in 2021; they’ve already announced the dates.

据我们所知，2020年COVID-19大流行的突然发作改变了世界。 E3等主要的面对面活动已被取消。 尽管像索尼这样的公司早就宣布他们不会参加今年的展会，但组织者(娱乐软件协会或ESA)坚持到3月才宣布2020年展会闭幕。 然而，ESA显然仍然对E3会在2021年返回充满信心。 他们已经宣布了日期。

With E3 gone this year, and the absence of any other major gaming event (at least until Gamescom in late August) — and with a lot of people stuck at home due to isolation — it became necessary for developers to pick up the mantle and shift to online showcases. It’s not just that online showcases are a viable option; they are arguably a necessary step forward for the industry. And while serious efforts were made, it’s debatable whether or not they succeeded.

随着今年E3的消失和其他重大游戏活动的消失(至少直到8月下旬的Gamescom为止)， 以及由于隔离而使很多人呆在家里，开发人员必须承担起重任并转移到在线展示。 不仅仅是在线展示是一个可行的选择； 对于行业来说，它们无疑是必不可少的一步。 尽管进行了认真的努力，但是否成功尚有待商bat。

Early in June, Sony revealed the first glimpses of the next-generation PlayStation 5 console during their Future of Play showcase. A wide range of titles were revealed, including games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Horizon Forbidden West. More than a month later, Microsoft made their move with a one hour game stream, during which they showed off Halo Infinite and revealed Square Enix’s new project Balan Wonderworld (a collaboration between legendary SEGA figures Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima). Several other third-party developers have shown off new projects via small video presentations, too. Even the ubiquitous Geoff Keighley got in on the act with his Summer Game Fest event.

六月初，索尼在“未来娱乐”展示会上首次展示了下一代PlayStation 5控制台。 揭示了各种各样的标题，包括《 蜘蛛侠：迈尔斯·莫拉莱斯》和《 地平线禁忌西》等游戏 。 一个多月后，微软采取了一个小时的游戏流程，在此期间，他们展示了Halo Infinite，并展示了Square Enix的新项目Balan Wonderworld (传奇SEGA人物Yuji Naka和Naoto Ohshima之间的合作)。 其他几个第三方开发人员也通过小型视频演示来展示新项目。 甚至无所不在的Geoff Keighley也参加了夏季游戏节活动。

Quite a lot of stuff has been announced over the past few months. But in some respects it all feels a bit hollow and empty. There’s a sense of curiosity in the air, but nobody has really had the opportunity to go hands-on with these new machines in order to tell if they’re really a step forward or just a mere upgrade to our already-capable consoles. How do the controllers feel? Are loading speeds truly as fast as they say? Sure, Geoff Keighley videoed himself going hands-on with the PS5 DualSense controller, but this doesn’t tell us much — when large, in person events like E3 occur, numerous gaming journalists usually have the opportunity to go hands-on, leading to a wide range of direct reports. This is where the true value of E3 comes in.

在过去的几个月中，已经发布了很多东西。 但是从某些方面来说，这一切都让人感到有些空虚。 空气中充满了好奇心，但是没有人真正有机会亲身体验这些新机器，以判断它们是真正的进步还是仅仅是对我们已经具备功能的控制台的升级。 控制器的感觉如何？ 加载速度真的如他们所说的那样快吗？ 当然，杰夫·基斯利(Geoff Keighley)拍摄了自己如何使用PS5 DualSense控制器进行视频操作的信息，但这并不能告诉我们太多-当发生大型事件(例如E3)时，许多游戏记者通常都有机会动手操作，从而各种各样的直接报告。 这就是E3真正价值所在。

Also, rather than each developer or publisher investing in doing their own polished video production, E3 provides a space for multiple companies to come together — and there’s real value in the live crowd (the cheers and screams as a result of some major reveal, like being in a crowded football stadium). The energy from the audience after the first Kingdom Hearts III trailer was shown at E3 2013 is ultimately what led me to purchase the entire franchise. That curiosity, that audience engagement…it’s something you can’t get from a pre-recorded video.

此外，E3并不是每个开发商或发行商都投资进行自己的精美视频制作，而是为多个公司提供了一个集会的空间-并且在现场人群中具有真正的价值(由于一些重大展示而产生的欢呼和尖叫声，例如在拥挤的足球场中)。 在2013年E3展示了第一张《 王国之心III》预告片后，观众的热情最终使我购买了整个系列产品。 好奇心，观众参与度……这是您无法从预先录制的视频中获得的。

The industry as a whole is moving in a different direction, that much is clear. It’s likely that a post-COVID world will still see a tendency toward pre-recorded presentations. Regardless what happens in the future, the memories of E3 will always be with us. And the value of some sort of in-person event will always exist, but perhaps it will take different forms in the future.

整个行业正在朝着不同的方向发展，这很明显。 在COVID后的世界中，仍可能会出现预录演示文稿的趋势。 无论将来发生什么，E3的回忆将永远伴随着我们。 某种形式的面对面事件的价值将永远存在，但将来可能会采用不同的形式。

翻译自: https://medium.com/super-jump/does-e3-have-a-place-in-a-post-covid-world-3fcbec48bbf3